Meeting Max
by Il Cielo Piove delle Stelle
Summary: The Flock meet Max for the first time in the School. Max has the eerie ability to show someone fear and pain. Will the two worlds collide and break, or peacefully go together?
1. Chapter 1

_**Chapter 1 **_

Angel awoke from her black despair, meeting her families's eyes. They had been taken to the school.

"Fang-!" She was shushed by him, looking at a girl Iggy and Fang's age when Fang pointed at her. The girl lay limply in her cage, looking most beat up.

She stirred then her eyes slowly opened. She sat up, wincing as blood seeped from a cut on her arm. Her eyes met all of the other's eyes. She looked coldly at them all. Angel flinched once her gaze set on her. Angel poked at the girl's mind numbly.

_You held tough, Maximum, _Something said in her mind. She smiled softly.

_Go away; I'm not in the mood. I'm fighting back, next time, Voice. Just so you know. _The girl- Maximum- thought back nonchalantly.

The doors of their prison swung open as an angry looking Eraser was followed by a worried looking Whitecoat.

The Eraser stopped in front of Maximum's crate. He pointed at her. "We're finishing our fight, Max! Come on, I'm going to hurt you so bad, you'll wish you'd never been-"

"Born? Too late." Max chuckled, but stood and stretched as the Eraser opened her cage roughly.

The Eraser ignored this. He looked at the Whitecoat and she flinched. He pointed at Angel and her family. "I want them to come, too."

"A-Ari, are you sure Jeb said this was-" The Whitecoat gulped under his glare. "Sanitary?"

"Yeah, I'm sure! Now get cracking! I don't want to wait for long!" Ari grabbed Max's bloody forearm. She didn't show any emotion at this.

Angel was hauled onto a cart with the rest of her family. They were hurridly rushed into a clearing with barbed wire fence all around it. Max stood in the clearing, looking bored. Ari was glaring at Angel, Gazzy, Nudge, Iggy, and Fang resentfully. It was obvious, he detested them. Angel slipped into her family's minds.

Iggy- _Max doesn't stand a chance._

Fang- _This'll be good. _

Nudge- _Oh, my God! This is so scary! That Girl- Max- she is going to die! _

Gazzy- _Wonder if I could make a bomb… anything here I can use? … Nope. Darn. _

Angel felt calm at Iggy and Fang's secureness. They'd protect them.

The fight began slowly.

"Ready to lose, Max?" Ari sneered, starting to morph.

"Nope." Max replied, ignoring Ari's anger. "Actually, I'm confident this fight will go as I like it to."

Ari growled angrily, he lunged. Max jumped into the air, spreading…

_Wings!? _Angel's family thought togethor in pure astonishment. She had wings, too! Angel didn't dare look into Nudge or Gazzy's minds. But Fang and Iggy were both thinking the same thing.

_Can she help us?_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Chapter 2 **__**Max Pov**_

My wings lifted me high above Ari as his ugly mug growled. He backtrached and morphed so quickly my Raptor eyes had trouble seeing it. And to make matters worse, he jumped up and grabbed my foot in his jaw, biring down hard as he pulled me down with him.

My mind reminded me of a power I'd recently gotten. It was brutal, I hated it. It made me a monster- literally. But I had to bear with it. I did a few flips as Ari tried to pounce on me, my ankle bleeding angrily.

I caught his gaze and felt guilty as his eyes went blank and he crumpled. I stared down at him, searching his mind. His greatest fear… being left behind- forgotten. I winced, knowing how it felt. In his mind, he could see Jeb and me leaving him at the School to be experimented on. I felt terrible- like I was going to gag. Ari slipped into unconsciousness as I left his mind, and his fear to throw up violently.

The biggest downplay of my power was the pain they felt, I felt. I kept my eyes blank, not showing the pain behind them.

I didn't refuse as the Whitecoats dragged me into a crate. I sat in silence with the other experiments. I shook and refused to meet anyone's eyes, burrying my face in my knees.

The doors opened again a few hours later. The last person I wanted to see came in and smiled at me sadly.

"Why'd you do it?" Jeb asked, sorrow in his voice as he sat in front of my cage, ignoring the other experiments.

"… You rather I let myself get pummled by Ari?" I asked blandly.

Jeb chuckled. "No. I mean, why did you give in to the despreat desire to let him die?"

I flinched. Monster- that's what I was.

"He didn't die." I whispered. "I let him live."

"I know that, but why? If he loathes you so much…"

"Shut up!" I yelled furiously. "Shut up, Shut up! He is your _son!_ You don't just ask someone these questions! I'm your _daughter!_ I'm not just someone! You are heartless, Jeb!"

Anger flared through me as I realized I really hated him. Truly and sincerely. I hated him.

My eyes locked on his as I searched for his fear. What I found… was me. He was afraid of me? That made me even angrier. The image I put in his mind wasn't pretty. I stood above him, hands grasping his throat. Jeb crumped to the floor outside my cage. I leaned forward and whispered, "Did you see? I didn't kill you, either." That was all I had said for the rest of the day. I watched in dismay as the Whitecoats passed by and dragged Jeb quickly out of the room, glaring at me with such fury only a regular person could have.

I chuckled, imagining their expressions if they saw _my_ glare.


	3. Chapter 3

_**Chapter 3 **_Fang Pov

_What did she do!? _

That was what I first thought as I saw the man- Jeb- crumple to the ground after her eyes locked with his. What was she doing? She worried me. I didn't trust her.

I dared to sneek a peek at Angel; she was shaking, eyes wide.

_Angel, _I said softly in my mind, hoping she would hear. She did. When she looked at me, I saw the fear. My eyes wandered to Max, who was leaning forward, near Jeb. I heard her say, "… You see? I didn't kill you, either." Before she leant back in her cage, awaiting the moment the Whitecoats would come find Jeb.

_Fang- Fang this girl- she- she- _Angel was shaking so violently, she stopped mid-thought. When the Whitecoats came and found Jeb, they glared hatefully at Max. She just sat with an emotionless face.

They dragged Jeb out and Max sat silently, hidden behind her bangs. I watched her intently, curious when she laughed softly. Her eyes were blank and her lips were parted slightly. She stared at the ground of her crate, fidgeting with her sleeve.

Hours- days- I dunno how much time later passed before Whitecoats swung us up onto carts and rolled us swiftly into a room with a huge maze. Max was on her own cart, her driver nervously glancing at her. Max stared at the maze with amusement. They let her out and at once put a clunky metal thing around her neck. We were let out, too, and had those clunky things put on, too.

The Whitecoats pushed us forward; we all stood togethor in the entrance of the maze. We had to find the way out- and apparently, these collars shocked you if you slowed or stopped. It seemed like a dreadful idea. This was illegal, wasn't it?

Angel, Gazzy, Nudge, Iggy and I stood in a group, deciding to run togethor for safety. Max however, was leaning against a wall, picking at the dry blood on her arm.

"Ready…" The whitecoat pulled out her clipboard behind us. "Go!"

Before any of us could move, Max had broken into a flat out sprint. She turned a corner and was gone. I ran after her, the others followed swiftly. After a while of following, I had to stop, and was shocked with the most pain I had ever felt. It was like an electric charge went _down my throat_, and into my heart.

Max kept running. How could she keep going without stop?

It took us a while to get out- especially after we'd lost Max. Once we got out, we saw the most frightening thing yet.

Max knelt on the floor as the tip of a nail sunk into her skin under a Whitecoat's hand. Max's head was down, but Fang noticed something. Max clenched her teeth to keep from screaming. She opened her eyes wide to keep from crying. She clenched her good fist to keep from punching anything.

"How can you have such self control? It amazes me…!" The Whitecoat muttered rudely, standing up and walking toward his fellow scientists. Apparently, they were testin her emotions. Jeb was no where in sight. Max hadn't moved her hand as blood covered it like a blanket. Her expression had begun to slowly change back into her expressionless stare.

I turned slightly to look at the others. Angel was terrified, shaking and shuddering. Nudge was crying silently, biting her lip. Iggy looked honestly confused, that was, until, Angel looked at him, obviously giving him the image. His sightless eyes widened and his breath caught. Gazzy was staring at Max with such agony; he looked like he was going to be sick.

Max was breathing hard, letting her hand bleed openly as she stood and numbly crawled back into the open crate. Her eyes were blank once again, and I wondered how she did it. I was suddenly angry, angry at these Whitecoats for hurting her like this.

Once back at the prison we had been kept at, Angel spokeup.

"Does it hurt?" She whispered, staring at Max's hand. Max looked at Angel with a zombie-like stare.

"Physical pain isn't as bad as pain to the heart. I can take this." Max said blantly.

"But how? Emotional Pain isn't as bad!" Nudge gasped, piping up.

Max smiled softly, though it didn't reach her eyes. "When all you've had is emotional pain, you come to bear with the physical pain. It's like… well; I guess you could say my life hasn't been exactly fair to me. Although, life is never fair, I know that better than anyone else."

When no one responded, but just stared at her in a way meaning to go on, Max sighed.

"When all you've ever felt is hate and suffering, you learn it's worse than actually being physically hated and forced into physical suffering."

Max's words hit me like a brick wall. The breath was knocked out of me.

Iggy coughed. "If you don't mind my asking, what was that you did to that Ari guy back there? And Jeb? What… what did you do?"

Max stared at him, thinking. "My ability is a cursed one. I hate it. But it is what helps me keep my emotional stamina at a high. I'm able to show someone their worst fear or memory. Wether they wanted to forget or even have already forgotten, I'll fish it out, somehow. I can also project an image. Like, I showed Ari something he didn't want to see, ever. But it never happened. I just made it up."

We all just stared in horror.

She continued. "Ari, as I just recently discovered, is afraid of being left behind. His worst fear is being erased, forgotten."

"That's… Horrible…" Nudge whispered in shock. This emotional trauma wasn't good for the younger kids.

"… What was Jeb afraid of?" Angel asked. Max's emotional mask didn't falter, but you could feel her resent to that question.

"I can't tell you."


	4. Chapter 4

_**Chapter 4 Max's Pov **_

The little girl was silent, but what she next said made my heart flare. "… What was Jeb afraid of?"

I did not want to answer, but I was going to, anyway. "I can't tell you."

The little girl's eyes narrowed.

My mind spun back to the image of me, anger in my eyes, teeth bared, hands clutching Jeb's throat from his view. I mentally shuddered.

The little girl was gaping at me. "Why did you show him _that?_" Crap. A telepath. I was in for it. Had she been listening the whole time? "That isn't important! What was he… afraid… of… oh." She stared at me. "Why would he be scared of-"

"Hush," I put a finger to my lips and winked at the girl.

"My name isnt 'little girl' or 'the girl', by the way." She smiled. "I'm Angel."

"Oh! Introductions! I'm Nudge! I chose my name myself! I think it's unique! Really cool! Did you know-"

"And I am Iggy." The pale one spoke up, interrupting the African American girl's ramble.

"I'm Gasman! But you can call me Gazzy!" I didn't even want to look into his background profile.

I looked expectantly at the darkish one. He had been silent the whole time. All he said was, "Fang."

Jeez. He was almost as unemotional as I was.

I paused, looking around at everyone. My mind was driving at one hundred miles a minute. If one of us stayed longer than the others, that would be me. I had an idea.

_Uh-oh._


	5. Chapter 5

_**Chapter 5 Angel Pov **_

Max's mind processed so fast, I clutched my head in agony. Fang looked at me, and so did everyone else, except Max, who was staring intently at the doorof her cage.

Her lips formed a word, I didn't know what she was doing. I tried to read her mind again.

This time, instead of insane thinking, all she thought was concept.

_Open. _She thought, staring at the door intently. It didn't move. _I said Open. Open._

Max sighed in frustration. She rubbed her temples and tried again.

_Open. Open. Open. Open. Open! _Unecpectedly, the door to her cage flew out and hit the wall on the other side of the room, near Iggy.

Max smiled, crawling out.

She looked at my cage door, then at the others' cage doors.

_Open. _She thought slowly, emphasizing the word in her mind. Mine, Fang's, Iggy's and Gazzy's cages opened.

Nudge whimpered. Max hurried over to her and thought something different. _Disappear._

Nudge's whole cage disappeared and she stared in shock at Max.

"I forgot to tell you, I'm a, uh, I guess you can call it a 'spell-caster'." Max chuckled nervously.

"You can say- I mean, think something, and that happens!" I whispered. Everyone looked at me.

"It's true. Watch." Max smiled and looked pointedly at the door, without making any sound, she had made the door blast open. "C'mon!" She started to run. We followed with an odd feeling. Like, this was how it was supposed to be. With Max.

"Where are we going?" Iggy shouted over the alarm that had begun to shriek. His hand was in Gazzy's hand. Gazzy looked determined, as well as everyone else.

"I've memorized the escape route! Hurry!" Max yelled back. She was running ahead of us, but with effort, we managed to keep up.

We followed all of Max's orders willingly, trusting her like we'd never trusted an outsider before.

She looked extreemly focused while every door was blasting open. Finally, we came to a huge- _huge_- window at the end of an extreemly long, narrow hallway. Max glared at the window as if it had insulted her. I heard her thoughts toward the window.

_Decinigrate! _Max ordered the window.

It shuddered slightly, but not enough to get out. The Whitecoat footsteps got closer and closer as our hearts pounded painfully.

_Decinigrate! Melt! Desappear! _Max commanded.

It shuddered again, the whitecoats got closer, and we were feeling light-headed.

"_Vanish_!" Max screamed aloud. The window broke into shards. She was standing to close to the window, they peirced her skin, but skidded onto the ground before hitting us. Max looked back at us and grinned.

"Go! Go! Go!" She yelled happily, pushing us out the window and watching as we spread our wings. We hovered questioningly in front of Max as she stood at the window. She looked abashed. "What are you doing? Go!"

"Not without you!" I yelled through fresh tears. Max stared at me. In that moment, the warning sirens, the Whitecoats yelling, the dogs barking, that all went away once I thought of leaving Max behind. I trusted her, and she had no where to go. She was like a mother to me, even though we'd just met.

There was no way I was leaving that chance behind.

Max hesitated angrily. She sighed in defeat. "I need to finish something, real quick! If you really want to wait… you're not going to see a good side of me."

"I don't care! _We _don't care!" I yelled. I looked around at the others. They nodded encouragingly.

"Yeah, Max! We'll wait!" Gazzy piped up.

Max's eyes were baffled. I heard Fang think, _what happened to her before we met her…? _

I didn't even want to know.

Jeb skidded around the corner; no one else was with him. Max's back was turned, so I yelled, "Max! Look!" Pointing at Jeb.

She spun and I saw a shakey smile form on her face as she crossed her arms. "Ah, okay. Let's get this over with."

"Max, you can't leave!" Jeb exploded. "You are an experiment! I can help you. Who else do you have?"

Max froze up; her arms fell to her sides.


	6. Chapter 6

_**Chapter 6 Max Pov**_

"Max, you can't leave!" I'd never seen Jeb so mad! "You are an experiment!" _No, duh!_ "I can help you." _Whaaat? _"Who else do you have?"

I felt my arms drop to my sides numbly. Who did I have? Who did _I _have?

"I can fend for myself, thank you very much." I said shakily, trying to sound brave as could be.

I felt a presence approach me from behind; I tensed up even more, if possible.

"Max," Angel whispered. "You have us, don't you?"

I turned slowly to meet a pair of tearfull eyes. Looking past Angel, I saw her family nodding vigorously.

"Yeah! Totally!" Nudge nodded a jerky nod.

"You helped us, man, that proves your trustworthy!" Iggy shouted, while Gazzy shouted "Yeah" at the same time.

I looked at Fang. He smiled the slightest bit and nodded once, without hesitation. I grinned and turned to Jeb.

"Well, there you have it. If you don't mind, I'll be leaving." I started to step off the edge.

As I dropped, I felt the sensation of drinking up the feeling of wind… immense wind, and adrenaline. My wings snapped out and helped me ascend toward Angel's family. My new family. My- I smiled even bigger- flock.

Boy, I was becoming cheesy.

We flew away from Jeb's angry screams, flying gleefully toward a "safe-house" the others told me about.

I was happy, and for once, I wasn't afraid to show it.


	7. Chapter 7

_**Chapter 7 Nudge Pov **_

I yawned a huge yawn. Maybe the biggest yawn yet! My eyes cracked open, dry and itchy. Normal morning feeling, for me.

I looked around and remembered- oh yeah! Max had helped us escape from that awful place! We took her back and gave her a room… right next to ours!

I remembered shamefully we had no food, and sighed sadly. Angel awoke and grinned.

"Hi, Nudge! Wanna go see Max?" She hopped down from her bed and flounced to her dresser.

"Yeah, Sure!" I followed her in dressing. We opened Max's door slowly and quietly, but Angel rushed into the room, staring with a horrified expression at the messy covers on Max's bed. She wasn't there. Had she left? No! I didn't want her to! No one did!

Angel dropped to the floor and cried silently. I stood in the doorway staring in shock at Max's unmade bed. Max seemed so nice, though!

I noticed the window was wide open, and couldn't keep it in any longer. I dropped next to Angel and cried, too. After a few minutes, the sunlight was blocked for a few seconds before we heard a gasp.

Arms wrapped around Angel and me.

"Hey- what happened? Whats wrong?" The voice made us look up in shock, or, more shock, I should say.

"Max? Y-you stayed?" Angel gasped.

"Of course I did! What makes you think otherwise?" Max's eyes held confusion and disbelief.

"Y-you weren't here when we l-looked, so we just asumed-" I couldn't say anymore.

To our surprise, Max laughed. "I _did _leave, but not for _that_ reason." She said. "I went to go get groceries. You guys were all out of food!"

Angel and I looked over at Max's bed, which, sure enough, had groeries sprawled out messily.

"Oh…" We said warily, smiling guiltily.

Max laughed again.

"I'm _not_ leaving." She said firmly. "No matter what, I'll _always _come back."

For the first time, I felt assured. For the first time, I knew I was protected.

"Now," Max picked up the grocery bags off of her bed. "What say we go and make some breakfast before the others wake up?"

"Yeah!" Angel and I choroused happily.

We skipped into the kitchen and made a delicious breakfast.


	8. Chapter 8

**(A/N: Yay! You made it to the last part of the story! This is my first Fanfiction, so... yay! Um, I disclaim Maximum Ride. This is all James Patterson. The charactors, the settings, the main plot (Wings, Erasers, etc...) So Yay! Thanks for reading.) **

_**Epilouge Angel Pov **_

Everyone was feeling different since Max agreed to live with us.

Iggy was happier with his bombs, mostly because Max was able to teach him a few things. Gazzy, well, pretty much the same reason as Iggy. Nudge and I both felt protected and secure. Like somehow, Max brought closure. Fang… he was happier. It didn't show, but when you're able to read minds, you just know.

Max also felt different. That awful, depressed feeling she had had vanished and was replaced with a feeling of completeness. Everytime she walked into a room with all of us, she would smile and think _Take that Jeb.I've got a family and all you have is a depressed son and your little mad scientist buddies._

I noticed how much more radiant I was when Max was around. I kept thinking if I ever found my family, they'd have to accept Max or I wouldn't stay.

That was the truth.


End file.
